The adventures of two sisters + food enthusiasts as they bake, cook, and eat anything, anywhere.

February 28, 2012March 1, 2012

Basho Japanese Brasserie, Fenway, Boston Revisited Again

Located down the street from Jerry Remy’s sports bar, Basho is a large, sleek, trendy, Vegas-style hip modern sushi restaurant in Fenway. It is owned by Jack Huang and is the sister restaurant to Duozo in the Back Bay. The sushi here is creative and delicious but horribly overpriced for the quality. They used to have a great sushi happy hour that is now discontinued and I used to go frequently because it was such a great value. Basically now, I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit Basho unless I was already in the area, going for a special occasion or absolutely necessary because parking in the Fenway area is horrible unless you are taking the T.

One of the more unique things about Basho is that it has the only robata grill in Boston. Skewers get cooked on an open fire basically. Some fantastic but small skewers of meat and vegetables can be had here. I really liked the Japanese eggplant and the Kobe beef when I had them on a previous visit. Also note, if you prefer a healthier option, brown rice is available for any order.

On this particular visit, I also noticed that because we were seated close to the window, it felt a bit drafty because of the cold winter air outside and the large airy space. Our waiter left something to be desired in the realm of customer service. He was very knowledgable but the general feeling I got was that he did not want to be at work. Granted, for a Friday night, business seemed rather slow, but that does not mean he should hurry us along in making our meal decisions nor rush over back to his other waitstaff cronies to keep gossiping. The food took a long time to come out than normal. The waitstaff and the kitchen possibly had an off day when we were there perhaps because I have had particularly good service on other visits.

We stopped for a light Friday dinner at Basho recently and had the following before meeting friends for drinks elsewhere:

Torched Salmon Salad- with crabmeat, shiitake, and mayo $8.25

This is an amazing appetizer. I’ve had it at least 4 times and it never fails to please. I think it is one of the best items on Basho’s menu personally. The thickly sliced salmon is lightly seared with a torch on each side than rolled around crabmeat, shiitake mushrooms and dressed with creamy mayo.

House assorted sashimi appetizer of salmon, tuna and torched toro

As I mentioned before, the sashimi is cut quite thick compared to other sushi places I have visited. It was extremely fresh this time around and thoroughly enjoyed the torched toro.

Large Large ebi with a fried head

I’ve got a real soft spot for ebi in my voracious gullet. Especially the super sweet spot prawns where they flash-fry the head. The shrimp was deliciously sweet and fresh however the only downfall is that the fried head was pre-made. It was not as crisp as I would have expected if it was made to order.

Assorted maki rolls on the right- salmon, spicy tuna, and a single salmon nigiri

The maki rolls were improved in quality compared to previous visits. They were tightly wrapped and the fish was of good quality. Next time we would like to try getting brown rice in our sushi and see how it turns out.